Indonesia’s New 7 Wonders of Nature, Komodo Island, will limit the amount of visitors per year. The East Nusa Tenggara provincial administration announced it will only allow 50,000 foreign and domestic visitors to Komodo National Park each year, in addition to requiring a membership.
According to the statement made by the East Nusa Tenggara Governor, Viktor Bungtilu Laiskodat, “Komodo Island is designated as a conservation island. Tourists who want to enter must be registered as members and we allow no more than 50,000 visitors a year”.
As a way to protect and respect the dragon’s habitat, the administration also banned the development of lodging facilities within the national park, fearing that it would disturb the nature around it.
The governor also welcomed the addition of the Tourism and Creative Economy Ministry’s Labuan Bajo and Flores Tourism Authority (BOPLBF) in maintaining and managing the national park. BOPLBF president director, Shana Fatina, stated that the agency would spend up US$250,000 to mitigate the effects of the coronavirus pandemic on the region’s tourism industry.